Allahabad High Court seeks information from EC on upcoming UP Assembly polls schedule

Allahabad High Court on Saturday sought information from the Election Commission about the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections after a PIL urged that directions be given for conducting the polls in April-May.

The Lucknow bench has fixed December 22 as the next date for hearing. The PIL was filed by activist Pratibha Pandey. According to petitioner’s lawyer the tenure of present assembly is up to May 27, hence, any proposal for conducting the elections earlier will not be proper.

The petitioner raises concern that tenure of present assembly of the state should be completed and in this regard the UP assembly poll may be conducted in the April-May. Convenience of the voters was also cited to be one of the reasons.

The counsel for respondents -- central government and the EC -- were present during the hearing. Following which the division bench has asked EC counsel about any schedule for the elections.

The EC had last week asked the Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UPMSP) to put on hold next year's board examination schedule so as to ensure there is no clash with the Assembly polls, which are due early next year. This in turn had given rise to speculation that the UP Assembly polls could be held in February.

With inputs from PTI